Circumstantial
by halfpipez
Summary: The last thing Yuma expected to find during his stay at the hospital was a room labelled "K. Tenjo" Photonshipping.


_Something I did for a prompt on the ZEXAL ficathon/fanworkathon hosted by Asa :)_

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It's when Yuma's in the hospital, limping around on crutches because his last adventure didn't end too well, when he notices Kaito out of the corner of his eye checking into the hospital and smiling painfully at the receptionist and taking a seat in the waiting room.

Well, thinking about the why isn't Yuma's style so he bounds out of the narrow corridor, nearly tripping himself over his own crutches, toward the waiting room and crashes down into the free seat beside Kaito.

"Hey!" Yuma exclaims, and Kaito looks pale and a bit taken aback. "Didja come to visit me? You're so nice!"

"Yeah, I did," Kaito says, attempting to mirror Yuma's smile. "Although apparently I'm early for visiting hours?"

Yuma laughs and Kaito looks down at the hands in his lap and at this point they've caught the attention of every patient in the waiting room including the receptionist who just gives Kaito the same painful smile he had given her earlier.

"Lucky I'm on my free time, huh Kaito?" Yuma says, and he lifts one of his bruised arms to scratch at the back of his head.

As if on a comedic cue, Yuma hears his name being called by one of the nurses. "Uh, yeah about that free time I said I have... rain check?" he says before jumping to his feet, collecting his crutches and limping as fast as he could down another corridor.

He didn't turn back to see Kaito heave a breath, check his pulse, and furrow his brow.

It's when Yuma's roaming around the hospital a week later, having snuck out yet again under the not-so-watchful eyes of his nurses, that he finds a door labelled clearly in neat handwriting "213: K. Tenjo."

He tries not to think about the bright red letters hanging from thin chains underneath it that say "DO NOT DISTURB," or about the nurses he passes talking in hushed tones about the patient in room 213 and how they sound worried. It takes all his willpower to suppress his curiosity on the matter entirely and make it back to his room.

When he gets back, he climbs into his bed and his nurse comes in with his lunch and it's as if he'd never left his room except he had and the things he'd witnessed…

When the nurse asks if he needs anything, he wants to ask for a name confirmation for the patient in room 213, but his brow furrows because now he's worried and he doesn't want to pry confidential information out of her, so he asks for a glass of water and by the time she's back with it, he's gone.

He's back at the door labelled "213: K. Tenjo" and he's just kinda standing there, shoulders slouched as he stares down the sign that tells him "DO NOT DISTURB" in red capital letters and he debates for a full minute on whether he should just disregard the sign because Kaito was definitely inside there and-

The door opens and the doctor nearly walks right into Yuma. His clipboard clatters to the floor and Yuma quickly apologizes before attempting to bend over and pick it up, but his leg is still out of service.

"It's fine, I've got it," he says, and it's that friendly doctor voice that kills Yuma because whatever he's got Kaito in there for can't be as pleasant as he's being.

"Sorry," he apologizes again and his eyes never connect with the doctor because he's too busy staring at Kaito who's sitting upright on the bed and his brain is running like a bullet train because _no he can't be sick, he's Kaito_ and there are wires in his arms and on his chest and Yuma barely registers the doctor running back to his bedside because his heart rate is up again and that's not good.

"It's fine," Kaito says as the doctor fusses over him, and his voice is hoarse enough to crack. "I just… didn't expect to see Yuma. Please let him in and give us a moment."

The doctor's reluctant, but he leaves while ushering Yuma over the threshold of the room he never thought he'd actually enter and suddenly the door is shut and it's dark again and it's only the two of them.

"Yuma…"

"Uh, hey Kaito."

Kaito sighs, staring at the hands in his lap. "Yuma, sit down."

He shuffles over to the chair beside the bed and the seat is warm so he figures the doctor must've been sitting in it earlier, thinking about anything to distract himself from the transfusion hooked into Kaito's pale arm.

Moments pass and they're silent and filled with a different kind of tension that neither recognized.

Finally, Kaito sighs. "… I'm dying, Yuma."

Yuma goes to protest, to say something like there's always a way, but he sees Kaito open his mouth again and bites his lip instead because that kind of thinking doesn't work with something as inevitable as death.

"I was gonna do away like a cat, hide from the ones who care about me and die off alone so no one would witness the pathetic state I'm in," Kaito continues. "But I guess you found me."

Yuma reaches out to grab ahold of Kaito's fidgeting hands, feeling how clammy he is and seeing blue veins through his translucent and pale skin. "I'm sorry," he starts, but Kaito interrupts him.

"No, you have nothing to be sorry for-"

"I do!" Yuma insists. "I left you for some stupid adventure and then got myself injured and I haven't seen you properly for months and now this? I left you alone like this?"

"That's my fault, I never told you-"

"I should have noticed, Kaito! It's my job to notice!" His voice cracked as tears filled his eyes and Kaito heaves a sigh because Yuma was never supposed to know or find out and he was just supposed to disappear like a fading photon, but now…

"Just… promise me you'll come during visiting hours," Kaito said softly. "Because now that my stupid Plan A can't happen and you know I'm here, I want to make sure you're the last person I see."

"Anything, Kaito."

Yuma's still holding his hands on the brink of falling to pieces when the doctor comes in and says that they have to get the next test underway. Yuma leaves, trudging back to his room where the nurses are waiting to scold him. However, when they see the look in his eyes, they withhold the lecture and tuck him into bed.


End file.
